“You couldn’t have known. You were only a child yourself.”
“I guess. But I still feel guilty.” She frowned at her food. “Bianca and her dad started counseling, but they can’t afford it. That’s why she’s not here today. Her dad is checking to see if they can get some kind of assistance. I’m going to talk to Mom, to see if we can help.”
Peaches gone, I pushed my tray away. Lenni hadn’t taken one bite, but shoved hers back too.
“Is she still mad at Mrs. Piper?” I gazed through the window to where the tetherball pole used to be.
“She hasn’t mentioned it. I think she’s glad it came out. She’s already different somehow, not just because she’s lost her powers—I guess she never really had any—but in other ways, too. She’s more at peace, it seems.”
“She still doesn’t like me. I could tell by the way she looked, I mean, refused to look, at me before she got on the bus after church yesterday.”
“It’s not dislike. It’s something else.”
“Something else, like what?”
“She said you make her feel strange—bad and good at the same time. Mrs. Piper gives her the same feeling.” Lenni’s brow creased, she closed her eyes for a second. “I’m trying to think of how Bianca described it.”
Something nudged me, like a tap on the shoulder, but on the inside. My pulse quickened. Lenni’s words were important.
“Her heart squeezes—that’s how she put it. For some reason, when Bianca’s around you, her heart squeezes and she wants to cry. She feels ashamed of what she’s done and filled with hope, all at once.”
Excitement flooded me, making it hard to breathe. “She doesn’t have to feel ashamed. I can go with her to talk to Mrs. Piper or Greg.” Suddenly, I felt like crying, too, overwhelmed by the feeling that God was using me to help Bianca.
“It’s not the shame, Molly.” Lenni locked her gaze on mine. “She’s used to feeling ashamed. It’s the hope that Bianca can’t deal with.”
* * *
I hunched forward in the passenger seat as Lenni squeezed out from behind me.
“Thanks for the ride, Madeline,” she called on her way around the jeep.
“You’re welcome.”
Mom was unusually quiet on the short drive home.
I cleared my throat. “So, Mom, how are you feeling?”
“Much better now.” She nodded and pressed her lips together. “I, uh, need to talk to you about something when we get home.”
“Mom, I think I know what about.” I glanced at the small swell at her waistline.
She pulled the jeep into the driveway and looked at me, her face serious. “Molly, I know this is a trying time in your life. Starting high school in a strange town, making new friends, not being able to have the latest clothes and gadgets—”
“Whoa. When have I ever complained about that? I don’t care about those things. Yes, moving to a new town was kind of tough, but I’m handling it. In fact, things are better now. So much better.” I clasped her hand.
Mom took a deep breath, her shoulders shuddering. “I went to the doctor today, and…”
“You’re pregnant.”
She laughed and cried at the same time. “You knew?”
“Mom, give me some credit. Cravings, morning sickness, high-waist dresses? Actually, Lenni sort of helped me figure it out.”
“You’re not upset?”
“No. I’m actually a little excited,” I said, realizing I was starting to look forward to the baby. “What did the doctor say, besides the obvious?”
“I’m around four months. I just feel so guilty, because I didn’t go sooner. I truly had no idea. Molly, I thought I was going through menopause.” Tears fell from the corners of her eyes.
“I’m sure everything’s fine or the doctor would have told you.”
“You’re right. I just feel so irresponsible. The first months are very important.”
“But you take amazing care of yourself. You take vitamins, watch what you eat, don’t smoke or consume alcohol. Good grief, Mom, you barely even drink soda.”
“True.” She nodded and sniffled.
“Did she tell you if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“No, she couldn’t make out the gender on the sonogram, but she let me hear the heartbeat. It was incredible. A tiny heart only this big, beating like a little drum.” She slightly parted her thumb and forefinger.
“Well, girl or boy, it will be adorable, because it will be part me,” I boasted.
She leaned over and crushed me in a hug. “Thank you so much, Molly.”
“For what?”
“For making this easier than I imagined. You’re a blessing.” She dabbed her eyes with the neckline of her dress. “I love you so much.”
“Love you, too.”
We exited the jeep and sauntered up the walk holding hands.
“I need to get her a new hat,” she said, standing in front of porch witch.
“They still have a bunch at the store. They’ll probably mark them down after Halloween.” I touched the statue’s red hair and ran my hand over her wooden, green skin, my smile reflected in her glass eyes.
Boo stood on his hind legs, crying as Mom opened the front door.
“That’s the one I’m worried about. He thinks he’s the baby.” I scooped him into my arms and he licked my chin.
Mom sat on the sofa. “He’ll be fine. Won’t you, Boo? He’s a good baby, yes, he is!”
“Okay, maybe it’s you I’m worried about.” I lowered Boo to the floor and sat next to her. He jumped up beside me, wagging his tail.
“Think I’ll take him for a walk.”
Boo, hearing the word walk, jumped from the couch, ran to the front door, and whimpered.
“Be careful,” Mom said.
“I’ve got my guard dog with me. I’ll be safe.” I kissed her cheek while fastening his leash. Boo led me through the door.
The fresh air was already doing me good. My mind processed thoughts in rhythm with my stride. I realized the walk was not so much for Boo as for me. Through the twists and turns of my brain rolled compartments filled with babies, witches, asylums, and empty liquor bottles, like cars on a rollercoaster. All the while, my feet shoved eastward.
My footfalls slowed. So did Boo’s, as if he could sense something. He growled and jumped, biting at tumbling leaves and swaying grass. I swallowed hard and stared up at the huge, misshapen trees surrounding the entrance to Old Town. They lined every street as far as my eyes could see, the whole neighborhood cloaked in their gnarled shadow.
I ducked between the massive trunks, avoiding angry voices calling from the road. Trudging through overgrown yards of vacant houses, I tripped over twisted, half-buried roots, my pant legs, and rubber flip-flops riddled with stickers.
Squinting down the street, around trees, I searched for Bianca’s house. It stood halfway down the block. I hurried through the next vacant lot and onto the potholed pavement, dragging my feet to loosen stickers from my soles. Boo whimpered. I knelt and plucked one from his paw then pulled his leash anxiously.
I stopped in front of Bianca’s house and stared at the cracked windows, looking for movement. Déjà vu mingled with dread in my stomach. “She’s not here, boy. Guess we’ll go back home.” I turned, dragging Boo behind me.
“Who you lookin’ for?” a hoarse voice demanded.
“A friend.” I strained to see where the sound came from.
“What friend?” From another direction came a different voice, higher pitched.
I squinted into the shadows of the trees.
“Oooh, she has a friend!” Yet another joined in, warbling, as if something dangled in his throat.
“Not on this block, she don’t,” the first voice said gruffly.
My blood thickened, taxing my rapidly beating heart. My mouth went dry. A little wail escaped my throat as it pinched shut. Boo growled and hunched low, ears back, tail down. My breath came in shallow wheezes as my feet rooted to the pavement
.
“Wanna have some fun?” The warbling voice asked, closer this time. The high-pitched one laughed. The other voice joined in, growing louder. Boo snapped at the end of his leash in every direction. The sky shrank as the road rose, throwing me off balance.
Hic! The hiccup tore through my closed throat as my knees buckled.
“Leave her alone!” A new voice—strong, authoritative, familiar—cut through the laughter.
“Shut up! This ain’t your business,” the dangle voice retorted.
“Really? You sure you want to mess with me, Hasbrook?” the strong voice asked.
I raised my eyes. Bianca jumped from her porch and landed on the cracked walkway. A curtain of red hair swung around her hardened expression as she crouched and studied the trees. “I see you,” she said coldly. “All of you.”
“We-we’re not afraid of you,” dangle voice stammered.
“Shhh! Shut up, dude, she sees us,” the first voice hoarsely warned.
“I ain’t messing with no witch crap! You saw what she did to Jesse.” The shrill voice shook.
“Jenkins, Singleton, is that you with Hasbrook?” Bianca asked, tilting her head.
“Go, go!” Rustles and crunches resounded from different areas in the tree line.
“Sansesco mamblado dandalo!” Bianca screeched. Her eyes rolled back, body trembling.
Yells in the tree line became panicked screams. Three ominous shadows turned into lanky bodies. Elbows and knees bolted like lightning through the dilapidated neighborhood. “Run. Faster, faster!”
Bianca threw her head back and laughed.
I blinked, speechless, as Boo quivered at my feet.
She smirked. “Well?” she asked, flinging her hair off her shoulder and straightening her gray miniskirt.
“Well, I think that was pretty amazing?” It came out as a question.
“So, why are you in the street outside my house?”
“Um, just walking my dog?” Another question. My cheeks grew warm.
“Right.” She raised her eyebrows.
“I’m at your house on purpose.”
She raised her brows even higher.
“We’ve had some really rough times lately, and I just wanted to know if you…”
“Spit it out. I don’t have all day.” She rolled her eyes, hands on her hips.
“I want to know if you’d like to hang out for a while.” My explanation rushed out like one long word with too many syllables.
“Repeat that. Preferably, in English.”
I grinned and repeated the question, slowly. “Bianca, would you like to hang out and maybe take a walk with me? Please?”
She glanced back at her house. “Okay. Let me lock up.”
“Where’s your dad?” I asked when she returned.
“Next door, fixing old lady Wilson’s toilet.” She jerked her red-tipped thumb sideways.
“Oh.” I looked at the trees spreading across the sky then back down at the pavement, trying to think of what to say next. “What do those words mean?” I asked hesitantly.
Bianca frowned. “They mean her toilet’s backed up.”
“No. Sorry. I meant those words you always say, sense-something.” A chill ran down my spine as she stared at me. I regretted the question. “Never m—”
“It’s from a lullaby my mother used to sing to Sam. Dad said she sang it to me as a baby, too, but I don’t remember.” She looked straight ahead as she walked.
“What language is it?” I asked, privileged to be in on her secret.
“No language. It’s just baby talk, like hey diddle diddle. Gibberish. I like how it sounds, so I borrowed it.”
“Yeah, it sounds really impressive when you say it.”
“I know.”
“Are there more words to it?”
“The lullaby has several lines. Sometimes I sing it when we visit her. It seems to calm her down.”
Awkward silence followed. I wanted to talk about Lenni. How I never meant to steal her away, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. I kicked a stray pebble from between my toes. “So, do those boots hurt your feet?” I asked.
“No. I like how they feel,” she said, her sleek heels clicking on the pavement. “How about those things slapping the soles of your feet like some kind of medieval torture device?” She cut her eyes to my dirty flip-flops.
I curled my polish-chipped toes in shame. “I can’t really feel the slapping.”
“Mm-hmm.” She jutted her chin. “So, where are we going?”
My mind flashed to the bloodberry bush, leaves withering, the sun beating down on its twisted roots. “Why don’t we stop by Lenni’s?”
She chuckled. “The two of us showing up on her doorstep? She’ll think she’s in the twilight zone.”
I chuckled too. Boo barked, running to the end of his leash when he spied a squirrel. I tugged the chain. “Easy, Boo.”
“How old is he?” Bianca asked, eying him.
“Three years.”
“He’s kind of cute.”
“Do you have any pets?” I asked.
“Yeah. A huge black cat named Salem. He talks and casts spells when no one’s around.”
I stared at her.
“Kidding. I don’t have any pets. I’ve always wanted a bird, though. An African grey or an Amazon. One I could train to talk.” She gazed skyward. “I read that ravens can be taught to speak. A talking raven would be incredible. I know just what I’d teach him to say first.”
“Nevermore?” I asked.
“Nevermore.” She mimicked the crackled squawk of a bird. Boo barked at her. We both laughed.
“I’d teach it to say Ravenwood,” she said.
“That’d be cool,” I said. “And they live a really long time, a lot longer than dogs and cats.” According to the Internet, Boo would live at least another ten years. He’d be around to get his ears pulled by the baby. Might still be around when the kid hit puberty. “Boo’s the baby of our family. I wonder if he’ll be jealous when the real baby gets here.”
“Baby?” Bianca stopped walking.
Sam. I shrank, insides squished together. How could I be so insensitive?
“You’re going to have a little brother or sister?”
“I just found out,” I said apologetically.
She looked at me, her eyes intensely green beneath her bangs. “That’s even better than a raven.”
I breathed, falling back in step with her. I could see Lenni’s house ahead, on the next block. My stomach tingled, anticipating her surprise.
We turned onto her walkway then clipped up the front steps. I could barely hold still as we stood before the ornate glass door.
Bianca calmly rang the bell.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lenni stared at us, saucer-eyed, through the glass.
“Let us in.” Bianca rasped her knuckles on the pane.
I twisted the brass handle, choking with laughter. Lenni’s expression was priceless, even more shocked than I’d imagined. Slowly, she reached out and unlatched the door.
“Geez, what’s that about?” Bianca asked.
“What’s going on?” Lenni rubbed her eyes.
“We were out for a walk and just thought we’d stop by for a visit.” I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself. Bianca’s cool stare only aggravated my amusement.
“The two of you were out for a walk, together?”
“Yes,” Bianca answered.
“I need to sit down,” Lenni said, rubbing her forehead. She staggered from the house and walked between Bianca and me, flopping heavily into the porch swing. “How—”
“I was taking Boo for a walk and thought Bianca might want to join me.”
“So I joined her, right after I saved her from the neighborhood thugs.”
“I don’t believe it.” Lenni gazed right through us.
“Twilight zone.” Bianca smirked.
“So, Lenni, can we go around back? I’d like to take Boo off his leash, let him cha
se squirrels.”
“Uh, sure, yeah.” She rose, zombie-like, and walked down the steps, around the porch, to the large gate leading into the backyard. She held it open for us, blue eyes round with disbelief.
I freed Boo. He ran barking, jaws snapping at a bird nesting overhead.
Bianca directed her gaze to the abandoned bush wilting in the sun. “Lenni? I would like for us to replant the bloodberry bush.”
Lenni looked at her, eyes growing even rounder, and then softening to moist crescents. “Me too.” They embraced. “I’ll get Dad’s shovel.” Lenni backed away from Bianca, giving her hands a squeeze before dashing into the small toolshed.
Rattles and scrapes echoed from inside. “Found it.” Lenni emerged with a yellow-handled shovel, a few clumps of petrified red dirt stuck to the spade. She handed the tool to Bianca. We walked to the shade of the oak and peered down the hole.
Bianca turned to me. “Molly, toss the loose dirt out, and then Lenni and I will lower the bush.” She placed the shovel into my hands. “It’s right, you being part of this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Bianca said.
Lenni nodded.
Bianca lowered her eyes. “Molly, this is hard for me.” Her gaze stopped at my neckline, landing on the gold cross. She took a shaky breath. “What I did to you at the concert was incredibly evil. My actions were unforgivable.” She squeezed her eyes shut, forehead wrinkling. “But I’m asking you to forgive me anyway. Because I can’t live with myself if you don’t.” She opened her eyes, fixing her gaze on mine.
“I-I was wrong too,” I stammered. “The things I said to you were way out of line—”
She shook her head. “Molly. Please. Let me do this.” Her green eyes glistened. “I need to say I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you.” Joy filled my soul to bursting as my fears floated to the sky like a helium balloon.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice hoarse.
I cleared my throat. “So. You guys don’t want me to puncture myself and bleed on anything before we do this?” I asked.
“Nah. Just dance around the bush naked after we get it planted,” Bianca said.
“Ummm...no.” I shoveled loose soil from the hole and pitched it onto the grass. Lenni stood to my right, Bianca to my left. A woodsy aroma drifted from her sun-warmed hair.
Second Bestie (Redbend High Book 1) Page 15